Day after teenager’s death due to alleged ragging, 15 medical students arrested

Inspector PJ Solanki of Balisana police station said that the 15 accused students of the medical college and hospital in Patan’s Dharpur, one of 13 run by the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS), had been placed under arrest. The students were detained immediately after the FIR was filed in this case.

The FIR filed at Balisana police station at 12.30 am on Monday, on the basis of complaint by Dr Anilkumar Gokulsingh Bhatija, the Additional Dean of GMERS Dharpur Patan MCH, booked 15 students for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among a range of other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The 15 accused were identified in the FIR as Avdhesh Ashok Patel, Hiren Mansukh Prajapati, Tushar Pira Gohelkar, Prakash Madha Desai, Jaimin Savji Chaudhary, Praveen Varjang Chaudhary, Vivek Gaman Rabari, Rutvik Purshottam Limbadiya, Mehul Pratap Dedhatar, Surjal Ruda Baldaniya, Haresh Gambhir Chavda, Vaibhavkumar Vikaskumar Raval, Parag Bharat Kalsariya, Utpal Sailesh Vasava, and Vishal Lagdhir Chaudhary.

Meanwhile, even as the teenager’s body was handed over to the family after a panel post-mortem, and his last rites were conducted at his village in Surendranagar, the police still do not have a definite “cause of death”.

Speaking on this, Inspector PJ Solanki said, “While the panel post-mortem was conducted, we have not been given the cause of death. An expert will give us details based on the findings of the panel of doctors who conducted the post-mortem.”

‘More awareness needed among students’

Dr Manish Ramavat, the interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GMERS, said, “We already have protocols in place as well as anti-ragging committees in all the medical colleges. Besides, we have anti-ragging helplines where students can reach out to report such incidents. Additionally, we have asked all deans to be more vigilant, especially around the time right after the admissions to prevent incidents of ragging.”

He further said, “We need to build more awareness and trust among freshers so that they can refuse to participate in such practices and inform authorities about them.”
Dr Hardik Shah, the Dean of GMERS Dharpur MCH, could not be reached for comment.

According to the FIR, at 8.30 pm on November 16, first-year students and second-year students had gathered “for introductions” in the common room located on the second floor of Block B of the boys hostel.

Around 12.30 am on Sunday, Methaniya fell unconscious and was later declared dead at the hospital. The first-year students made a representation to the Dean that the second-year students engaged in ragging them by continuously making them stand for over three hours at a stretch.

The FIR stated that the Dean immediately convened a meeting of the anti-ragging committee, which he heads.
The committee presented a report, which contained statements from 26 witnesses. At least 11 of these witnesses, who testified in person before the committee, said that between 8.30 pm and 12:30 am, the 15 accused had carried out ragging by making them “continuously stand, sing and dance, swearing at them all this while”, sources said.

Following this, Methaniya fell unconscious, the committee was told. He was immediately taken to the civil hospital attached to the medical college.

The 15 accused were booked under BNS sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 190 (all members of unlawful assembly responsible for crime committed), and 296(b) (obscene acts and songs).

Samarth Bhatt, state secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which held a late-night sit-in on Sunday, said, “The increasing number of incidents of ragging in Gujarat is a disgrace to the entire education sector. The ABVP demands that the Gujarat government form a committee to investigate the case so that the family of the deceased get justice and such acts can be prevented in the future.”